Chapter 33) THE SACRAMENTS

1. We believe that our gracious God, mindful of our insensitivity and weakness, has ordained sacraments to seal His promises to us and to be pledges of His good will and grace towards us. He did so to nourish and sustain our faith.¹ He has added these to the Word of the gospel² to represent better to our external senses both what He declares to us in His Word and what He does inwardly in our hearts. Thus He confirms to us the salvation which He imparts to us. Sacraments are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.³ Therefore the signs are not void and meaningless so that they deceive us. For Jesus Christ is their truth; apart from Him they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments which Christ our Master has instituted for us, namely, two: the sacrament of baptism⁴ and the holy supper of Jesus Christ.⁵

1. Gen 17:9-14; Exo 12; Rom 4:11
2. Mat 28:19; Eph 5:26
3. Rom 2:28-29; Col 2:11-12
4. Mat 28:19
5. Mat 26:26-28; 1 Cor 11:23-26